Sports Illustrated To Go Monthly In 2020

Sports Illustrated is reducing the number of issues it publishes even further and will become a monthly magazine printed on heavier stock paper next yea, reports Yahoo Finance.

The magazine has been slowly dwindling in recent years, moving from a weekly in 2015 to twice per month in January 2018. It’s now moving to one issue per month, plus four special issues and the Swimsuit Issue.

“We’re refining the exact schedule, but it will be essentially a monthly with four season-preview issues and the SI Swimsuit for a total of 17 issues,” said co-editor Steve Cannella, who moved into the job last month as part of a shake-up that saw 40 staffers — including 13 from the editorial side — axed.

When adding in issues by SI Kids and SI Presents, or special print editions tied to epic events such as the Super Bowl and World Series, there will be 27 print editions under the SI brand in 2020, he said.

SI was sold by Meredith to Authentic Brands Group earlier this year for $110 million. Maven, a Seattle-based tech and digital publisher, then took over the media operations in a licensing deal with ABG. The 10-year deal included a $45 million down payment.

Since taking over operations, Maven has said it has built 80 team-specific sites covering college football, the NFL and the NBA. These sites drew 4 million visitors in their first month, October, with 5,000 stories, including videos and commentary, Maven said.